The intro is the first paragraph you'll read at Government is Good, a site that promotes our government system - while the latest craze is to dismantle it in favor of free-market everything.
Here's more:
This website is a response to this one-side, distorted, and misleading depiction of government. It makes the case that government – despite is flaws – plays a valuable and indispensable role in promoting the public good. Government programs are actually improving the lives of all Americans in innumerable ways.
Today, this more positive – and more realistic – view of government is beginning to gain more traction among the public. For one thing, the mortgage system collapse and the ensuing deep financial crisis have given most Americans a renewed appreciation of the importance of government and the vital roles it plays in our society. If not for vigorous government rescue efforts, we would probably be slipping into an economic depression – with no end in sight.
And it is clear that this economic meltdown was caused in large part by conservative-led cutbacks in government regulation of financial markets. The media have been full of stories about how we need a more active government to re-regulate the financial sector. And nobody is talking about privatizing Social Security anymore.
But many Americans are still missing a crucial point: more energetic government is necessary in a whole range of areas in our society – not just in the financial sector. The anti-government philosophy of deregulation has not only proved a disaster for the financial system, but also for food safety, energy policy, and environmental protection. And cutting back taxes has led to school budgets being cut, public safety workers being laid off, poor children being denied medical care, and bridges and roads falling into dangerous disrepair.
Government is not the problem; it is actually the only solution to most of the pressing problems we face as a nation – including infrastructure decay, rising unemployment, global warming, and a worsening health care crisis. As this online resource shows, if we want an America that is prosperous, healthy, secure, well-educated, just, compassionate, and unpolluted, we need a strong, active, and well-funded public sector.
I am very impressed with this site because it has many tools you can use to spread truth and reality to people about what our government does good.
And yes, taxes are good.
Most conservative criticisms about the ill-effects of taxes are exaggerated or untrue. Taxes are in fact good – they are dues we pay to enjoy the numerous vital benefits that government provides for our society.
Are taxes bad? If you've been listening to conservatives for the last several decades, you would certainly think so. Virtually every Republican candidate for office in recent memory has run on an anti-tax platform – arguing that Americans are overtaxed, that taxes hurt economic growth, etc. And it is this hatred of taxes that helped propel the passage of hundreds of billions of dollars of tax cuts during the administration of George W. Bush.
This anti-tax campaign strikes a real emotional chord in some Americans and it has been one of the most effective rallying cries of anti-government conservatives. It taps into a taxophobia that is deeply ingrained in American political culture and that manifests itself in the activities of over 800 local and state anti-tax groups.
But conservatives are dead wrong about taxes. Taxes are not bad.
Taxes are good.
Enjoy the rest. I have.
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